A transparent conductor means a thin conductive film coated on an insulating substrate of high light transmittance. The transparent conductor has appropriate optical transparency and has surface conductivity. The transparent conductor having surface conductivity is widely used as a transparent electrode in fields where both transparency and conductivity are simultaneously required, such as flat liquid crystal displays, touch panels, electroluminescent devices, and photovoltaic cells, etc., and is also widely used as anti-static layers or as electromagnetic wave shielding layers.
Metal oxides such as indium tin oxide (ITO) have excellent optical transparency and electrical conductivity, but have disadvantages in that they are easily damaged by physical impact and are not physically deformable, and have limitation in that high cost is required, and a high-temperature process is required at the time of preparation.
A conductive polymer has problems in that not only electrical characteristics and optical characteristics are deteriorated but also chemical and long-term stability are deteriorated.
Accordingly, a demand for the transparent conductor capable of having excellent electrical and optical characteristics, stably maintaining physical properties thereof over a long period of time, and being physically deformable has been continuously increased.
In accordance with this demand, the transparent conductor having a structure in which a network of conductive nanowires such as silver nanowires is embedded in an organic matrix, on an insulating substrate, as described in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2013-0135186, has been developed.
However, such a transparent conductor is able to be physically bent, but has weak adhesion force with the insulating substrate, and thus, there is a problem in view of durability, and there is a limitation in that electrical characteristics of a surface are not uniform.